2013 Super Chevy Show - Back In Bakersfield

The Super Chevy show finally returns to Auto Club Famoso Raceway in California

It has been a few years, but the Super Chevy Show series has made its way back to California. The Super Chevy Show, presented by Chevrolet Performance and Original Parts Group (OPGI), finally made a stop for the first time in over two decades at Auto Club Famoso Raceway on the first weekend in June 2013. Test and tune started up on Friday night, and filled the sky with the smell of burnt rubber and the sound of horsepower. Come Saturday morning, the show cars started filing in, while Jason Woodruff from Jay Com Services out of Huntington Beach, California, set up the autocross course. The Camaro5 forum showed up in force, making the fifth-gen Camaro contingency huge.

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Saturday was also the first time the crowd got to see the West Coast Outlaw Pro-Mods annihilate the track and shake a few eyeballs. There were multiple classes you could race in, from the Chevy Gamblers race to the True Street class, the CamaroGuys.com Gen 5 Challenge, and more. Sunday saw the second day of the show, along with big money bracket class time trials. Racers competed in the DriveDuracell.com Bracket 1 (Super Pro), Bracket 2 (Pro), the DOT Street class, as well as the West Coast Outlaw Pro Mod Eliminations.

While the track saw some quick e.t.'s over the weekend, we here at the magazine held a little competition of our own called the Super Chevy Magazine Triathlon. This is where participants competed in a series of autocross, drag racing, and brake stop events to find out who has the meanest Chevy powered vehicle on site. We know there are cars that are fast in a straight line and cars that can turn, but we wanted to find the car that was the best at all of those, and could also stop. The show had something for everybody, and we are happy to report it will be back again next year. We will be there with our cameras and note pads, so if you are on the west coast, why not come check it out?

1

Chris Schmit took 9 years to build this gorgeous double nickel drop top. He did all the work himself except for spraying the paint and sewing the upholstery. The entire car looks nice and balanced, but the interior really shines when the top is down. Chris' efforts garnered him multiple awards at the show, and we will be bringing you a feature on the car. So if you like this one, stay tuned!

2

Here we have Dwight Mashburn's '69 Camaro that he got when he was just 14 years old. With the help of his father Mike, the two built the car through Dwight's teen years. The father and son duo completed the car just two days before Dwight graduated from high school. What set this car apart at the show was the killer audio system neatly built into the trunk.

3

Pat Pozine made the 170-mile drive from Merced, California, in his blown '56. Pat has owned the car 25 years, and says this is the fourth motor. The 355 SBC is topped with a 6-71 blower, and backed by a Curry built 9-inch with 4:10 gears. Pat told us his most recent mod, a Tremec TKO six-speed, made the journey much more enjoyable by dropping his RPM's by a 1,000 at cruising speed.

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4

John Swartsfager '67 has a 350 small-block backed by a TH350 and a Gear Vendors, giving him a six-speed automatic. The car was sort of finished a couple years ago, but John (like the rest of us) owns a car that will never really be done. John's latest additions are a set of EMS billet taillights, gas cap, and hood hinges.

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5

Jason Aschle from Paso Robles, California, has owned this '91 Camaro for 13 years, and initially built it for drag racing. But that got a bit too expensive, so now he has a pretty gnarly street machine. It has a 377ci small-block underhood with Sportsman II heads. Jason reports the car went 11.97 at 120.3 before retiring it to street duty only.

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6

Kelly Crowther bought this true SS396 '68 EL Camino 2 years ago, and said he only needed to do a few things to make it perfect for him. He lowered it down, gave it a deep cleaning, and had an SMI carb built for it. Its nice to see the car still wears the original Palomino Ivory and black vinyl top exterior.

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7

Another very clean '69 at the show was this Black and Orange beauty belonging to Ron Bowman. Its got a 502 backed by a Richmond six-speed and a 9-inch with low 5:11 gears.

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8

Mike Beckwith from Tehachapi, California, had his '79 Malibu on the track all day, and ended up taking home an Editor's Choice award for how clean his G-Body was.

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9

Here is a another pair Editor's Choice drag award winners, Tim Gorman in the Orange '64 El Co, and his daughter Meghan Anita Gorman in her '73 Nova. Both cars are running Rick Fauset engines, a 485 in dad's ride, and a 383 in Meghan's. On this pass, Tim ran a 10.65 to Meghan's 10.86, making for a close family drag race.

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10

Here we have two of the True Street winners, 12-second winner Lacie Phinney in her Trailblazer SS, going against the 13-Second winner, Chris Lee in his '99 Camaro.

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Race Results

CamaroGuys.com Gen 5 Challenge

Winner: Fred Lomax, Los Angeles, CA

Runner Up: Guy Martin, Ventura, CA

True Street

11-second Winner: Tony De Azevedo, Tulare, CA

12-second Winner: Lacie Phinney, Bakersfield, CA

13-second Winner: Chris Lee, Hesperia, CA

DriveDuracell.com Bracket 1

Winner: Mark Simonian, Sanger, CA

Runner Up: Ryan Tietz, Riverside, CA

Bracket 2

Winner: Larry Crowder, Covina, CA

Runner Up: Brian Fortune, Canyon Country, CA

DOT Street

Winner: DJ Giacalone, Wilmington, CA

Runner Up: Lacie Phinney, Bakersfield, CA

West Coast Outlaw ProMod

Winner: Rod Burbage, Anderson, CA

Runner Up: Marc Meadors, Danville, CA

Autocross Men's Class

Winner: Rob Byrd, Riverside, CA

Runner Up: Mike Haddad, Inglewood, CA

Runner Up: Andrew Helpingstine, Gilbert, AZ

Autocross Ladies Class

Winner: Trish Byrd, Riverside, CA

Runner Up: Nicole Nordin, Rancho Cucamonga, CA

Runner Up: Larrisa Wong, Los Angeles, CA

Editors Top 10 Show Cars

Chris Schmidt, Clovis, CA, '55 Bel Air

Mike Mashburn, Bakersfield, CA, '69 Camaro

Pat Polzine, Merced, CA, '56 Bel Air

John Swartsfager, Bakersfield, CA, '67 Camaro

Jim Hunt, Bakersfield, CA, '70 Chevelle

Kelly Crowther, Bakersfield, CA, '68 El Camino

Jason Showalter, Clovis, CA, '75 Monza

Ray Philips, Paso Robles, CA, '71 Corvette

Jerry & Carole Guernsey, San Bruno, CA, '57 Chevy

Ken Macom, Fresno, CA, '69 C10 Pickup

Editors Top 10 Race Cars

Mike Beckwith, Tehachapi, CA, '79 Malibu

Brian Rogers, Mira Loma, CA, '67 Nova

Chris Lee, Hesperia, CA, '99 Camaro

Mike Settele, Redondo Beach, CA, '66 Nova

Tim Gorman, Bakersfield, CA, '64 El Camino

Meghan Anita Gorman, Bakersfield, CA, '73 Nova

Adam Noyes, Santa Maria, CA, '71 Camaro

Jeff Balzer, Castaic, CA, '71 Chevelle

Luigi Calantoni, Henderson, NV, '68 Camaro

Mike Silva, Medera, CA, '64 Nova

Super Chevy Magazine Triathlon

Men's Class

Brake Stop

Autocross

Drag Race

Winner: Mike Haddad

7.275

36.548

11.344

Runner Up: Fred Lomax

7.039

38.648

12.028

Runner Up: Andrew Helpingstine

7.248

36.657

13.578

Ladies Class

Winner: Sarah Potter

7.695

42.443

12.873

Runner Up: Trish Byrd

8.001

37.576

13.818

Runner Up: Norma Davis

8.378

41.407

15.392

11

Ever seen an 11-second Corvair gasser? Well, you have now!

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12

This '71 Camaro belongs to Adam Noyes, and runs a beefy 555ci big-block with a glide and a 4:10 geared 12-bolt. The car was ultra clean and runs a 5.41 in the 1/8 on a single stage of nitrous. Adam had his mom Lynette, dad Ron, wife Erika, and their newborn baby on hand for support.

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13

Mike Silva brought out a fresh combo in his '64 Nova to see what she'd do. The 400 small-block with a 300hp shot of funny gas was enough to send the front end sky high. Mike had to lift and she came down pretty hard. It didn't look like the car got hurt, but we never found out if Mike made another pass. With the way the car launched, it should be in the low 5's in the 1/8.

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14

The autocross was buzzing with the sounds of fifth-gens all day.

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15

Some of the runs didn't go as planned, but this driver made the best of it, giving us a little smoke show after getting a bit aggressive in one of the corners.

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16

The Triathlon combines autocross drag race, and speed stop times to find the baddest car on the grounds. Mike Haddad in his [cough] Pontiac took home top honors, but the award for closest to the cone was Rob Byrd, who also happened to win the men's autocross class.

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17

Fred Lomax took home Camaro5's Best of the West trophy in his ultra quick yet still streetable ZL1.

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Here are the Bakersfield, CA winners from the AMSOIL Best of the Best competition, presented by Danchuk and Classic Muscle:

The AMSOIL Best of the Best voting begins the Monday after each Super Chevy Show and lasts through the following Monday at midnight. Keep your browser aimed at bestofthebest.superchevy.com to vote for next batch of classic Bow Ties.